- Athens
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Greece
Athens got its own 'In Your Pocket' city guide this month. Like every other IYP guide around Europe, it is packed with useful, timely and accurate information about accommodation, restaurants, nightlife, sightseeing, shopping etc.
If there isn't one in your hotel room, you can buy it at foreign press news stands for just €2 or simply download it for free.
Greece has a strong tradition of open air cinema in the summer months, and Athens has a startling number of venues. They can often be a bit shabby, and you'd best bring your own refreshments but with the right movie it can be great. I saw Tarantino's Death Proof on a rooftop in Exarchia, and it's hard to believe it could be better viewed any other way.
You can get free maps, useful illustrated leaflets and small books at the GNTO offices in Athens at 26 Amalias Street. You can also download free maps of Greece from several interesting websites.
www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=805&langID=2
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/maps.htm
A very interesting article about driving to Greece by car. If you plan a driving holiday to Greece read it.
www.in2greece.com/blog/2007/09/england-to-greece-by-car.html
In the centre of Athens, a museum in a neoclassical villa with collections covering every period of Greek history.
Lots of interesting exhibit types you don't see in the more popular places; not particularly visited by tourists so good to spend time there.
Good little shop with quality souvenirs; cafe.
Admission worth €6 of anybody's money.
Closed Tuesday, Free Thursday and also if you are a family with more than three children - there is a toys and games collection.
Also other collections in annexes around town: for example, one of the most important collections of Islamic art outside the Islamic world. See the website.
1 Koumbari and Vas Sofias avenue (up side of Houses of Parliament just off Syntagma)
www.benaki.gr
The Temple of Olympian Zeus is one of the landmarks of Athens like Acropolis and Parthenon. Its construction began during the 6th century BC and finished in the 2nd century AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The temple of Zeus is situated next to Zappeion at the junction of Vasilissis Amalias and Vasilissis Olgas Avenues, the main entrance is at Vasilissis Olgas Avenue 1. On the same field you can visit Hadrian's Arch.
www.britannica.com/eb/topic-427981/temple-of-Olympian-Zeus
www.in2greece.com/english/places/summer/mainland/athens.htm
The National Archaeological museum is the largest museum in Greece. It has collections from all the eras of the Greek civilization from the 6th millennium BC until the late Antiquity. Large collections of sculpture and ceramics from the Geometric Period. The most famous items are the bronze statue of Poseidon, the Mycenaean death Mask of Agamenon, the small marble statue of The Harp player from Keros from the prehistoric Cycladic period, the bronze statue of the Young man from Antikythera, the bronze statue - Boy and Horse from Artemision and many others.
Patission Street 44 Athens
+30 2108217717
odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3249
Plaka is one of the most popular spots in Athens. Since Melina Mercury cleaned up the area from the noisy bars and night clubs, today Plaka is a quiet small Greek village inside the overcrowded Athens center.
Best time to enjoy Plaka is early spring and late October when the tourist wave has gone. There are many places and museums to visit in Plaka among them the museums of Greek folk art, the Children's Museum, the Frissiras Museum of Greek painting and the Greek music instruments museum. In Plaka you can see also the Roman bath of the Winds and the Lysicrates monument, next to it was the Capuchin Monastery where Lord Byron stayed. Across the Adrianou street and on the steps of Plaka you will find many shops, cafes and restaurants.
www.galenfrysinger.com/plaka_athens_greece.htm
www.remunda.com/travel/review/plaka_athens.html
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/athens-map.html
One of the most famous historical places in Greece is Delphi. If you stay in Athens you can take a day trip to Delphi. Visit the museum to see the statue of the Charioteer of Delphi, the temple of Apollo and enjoy the mountain view.
Information and more about Greece:
www.in2greece.com/
One of the most visited areas of Athens; old bookshops; Greek art shops; rags and bones; old DVDs and CDs and bursting with tourist and locals all year.
At the end of Athinas and Andrianou street ,metro station Monastiraki or Thission
www.athensguide.org/ravel-to-athens.html
Located in Hatzikyriakio Piraeus, the menu is simple fried fish or shrimps with a huge Greek salad made from the best tomatoes and Greek Feta, Retsina from the barel, very cheap prices.
Gay-friendly hotel in the heart of Athens, with staff that really go out of their way to help you around this maddeningly fun city which is all Greek to me.
13 odyseos street ,Karaiskaki sq. 10436 Athens,www.hotel-rio-gr
This is Berlin in Athens.
Run by a creative team, this multi-purpose place is the point of reference for alternatively trendy-cool young Athenians. A large bar with minimal decor and experimental DJ sets, a live stage that hosts international progressive artists, a basement club, and a small cinema, all under the same industrial roof.
84 Pireos St
+30 210 3425335
www.bios.gr
You'll listen to good music, enjoy free tapas with your drinks and mingle with interesting young crowds in a place that is packed every single night (avoid Saturdays).
The food in the small restaurant room is also lovely.
44 Triptolemou St.
Gazi
+30 210 3471844
Delphi is usually the second point of interest on every traveller’s list when planning their itinerary for Greece. Second only to the Acropolis. 180 kms from Athens it is quite easily a day trip. The famous oracle of Delphi has a fascinating history. But how does one get there?
You could go on one of the tours. Or you could do what we did. You would need two things. A map of Athens and a metro map. Armed with that you head to the nearest metro station and head towards Kato Patissia on the Green line. You exit the metro station and head towards Terminal B on Liossion Street. It’s a ten minute walk at most. Ask for directions or follow the map. I find the metro a lot faster than the bus, but you could take a bus from Syntagma (the centre of Athens) to Terminal B. The bus terminal itself is more or less like an inter state bus terminus in one of our metros. If you are looking for great service and smiling personnel, take the tour from the city centre. At the terminal, go to the office and look for a kiosk marked for Delphi. There is a bus going every couple of hours or so. We managed to take the one that left at 10.30 am. The ticket was approx 10 Euros. Buy the return. Actually, decide if you would like to stay in Delphi or Arahova. If not, get the return ticket.
www.theglobaldesi.com
In Athens, the most important map you will need is a metro map. You can get one there, but better to get comfortable with the places and the connections before you land there. It is fairly simple. There are only 3 lines and you cannot possibly get lost. There are metro lines and an ISAP suburban railway line. You will find a map on www.ametro.gr. There is a coastal tram and a convenient bus service in Athens.
Buses are the best way to get around mainland Greece. Fairly inexpensive, and a good network. There are 2 terminals in Athens, which service different regions of the country. There is also a good train network that connects the main cities. Two train stations — one for the west and one for the north.
The ferries to the islands would blow a considerable hole in the pocket, even if you take the slow ones. Schedules are fairly reliable so you need to check at a travel agent or head down to Piraeus and book tickets. You don’t really need to take a taxi except when you venture out at night. Public transport makes most places quite accessible. On the islands you could rent motorbikes for a day and that’s the best way to discover the place.
theglobaldesi.com
Avoid the modern day intercity for a romantic night ride on train 504.
It departs Athens central station at 22.50 arriving at Thessaloniki at 5.30 just in time for morning coffee and fresh bougatsa (cream pie).
Early booking can secure one, two, three or four bed compartments but the real thing are the six bed compartments in older cars.
True old fashioned experience on one of Europe's oldest trains with the bonus of the lovely city of Thessaloniki at the end of the journey.
A cosy jazz 'museum' in the posh area of Kolonaki.
Enjoy vintage jazz in an appropriately smoky environment and have a philosophical chat with Costas the legendary owner.
Avoid telling him that you prefer modern jazz (that's anything after bebop!), he may ask you to leave his bar!
4 Deinokratous st (oposite St George Lycabetus Hotel)
Kolonaki
210-7258362
Real Cretan food in a nice casual chic environment.
Fresh produce shipped daily from the island of Crete. Owner Stavros Theodorakis, famous Greek journalist is around most nights making sure his guests have a great night out.
Gamopilafo (Cretan risotto served at weddings) is the best you can get outside Crete. Around 40 euros per person including wine and dessert. Reservation recommended.
Vrasida 13 (oposite Athens Hilton)
Athens
+30-210/721-0501
They are called tapas in Spain, meze in Cyprus, and appetizers almost everywhere else. But in Greece, they are Orektika or Mezedas. These are the bite size yummies that are served hot or cold, and are supposed to be your starter but can actually be your entire meal. The appetizers in Greece are very special and can be found nowhere else. If you are on a budget, this is the best food to order, because they are tasty, inexpensive, nutritious and filling.
In Greek Tavernas, Ouzarias, and Mezedopolios. See here for more on Greek food: www.travelswise.com/greekfood.htm
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